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Sexual Offenders Distrurbing The Students’ Experience In College

A student’s everyday life inside the campus might seem quiet and normal. However, it is a true story that sexual assault plagues colleges and universities in the United States. Aside from those reports that we already heard in the news and social media, there are many other cases of sexual assault that are not brought into our attention, due to the victims’ fear for their safety.

Based on the figures obtained by the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of reported forcible sex offenses grew within the campus’ premises grew from 2,200 in 2001 to 6,700 in 2014. A separate report from 2015 states that close to 12 percent of all college students experienced unwanted sexual penetration or touching through force. These experiences include being physically overcome and threatened with a weapon. There are instances when victims experience incapacitation, where they were unable to consent due to being drunk, high, or asleep.

These numbers are alarming enough, but the concern is much more significant due to the possible bigger number of sexual harassment incidents that the victims chose not to report to the authorities. It is estimated estimated that almost two-thirds of sexual assaults are not reported to law enforcement.

With this, colleges and universities’ policies and regulations dealing with sexual assault are undergoing changes. In 2011, the Obama administration created new guidelines that schools were to follow in order to comply with Title IX rules that prohibit sexual discrimination in education. The guidelines made a clear definition of sexual harassment as “unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature” and required administrators to investigate all cases of student-on-student sexual misconduct that occurred either on or off campus, whether someone has filed a formal complaint or not.

Casopis InterFon will bring you other important issues to your attention so that all of us can help create a better learning experience for students in this country.